Informational Broadcast Messages and Its Uses in Wireless Multihop Networks

1. A node device for use with a wireless multihop network containing a plurality of other node devices, each node device being within communication range, through a wireless communications medium, of one or more neighboring node devices located in a corresponding local neighborhood, the node device comprising: communication circuitry, and a controller interfaced with the communication circuitry, the controller including a processor and a non-transitory data storage medium containing instructions executable on the processor, that, when executed, cause the controller to implement a neighborhood management module that includes: a visibility message generation module that generates visibility messages to be transmitted via connection-less broadcast, the visibility messages including at least an identifier of the node device; a received visibility message assessment module that processes visibility messages received by the node device from the one or more neighboring node devices to determine a measure of density of the local neighborhood; and a management module that initiates updating of an operational parameter of the node device relating to utilization of the wireless communications medium by the communication circuitry, wherein a degree of utilization of the wireless communications medium by the node device is adjusted, at least in part, according to an inverse relation to the measure of density of the local neighborhood determined based on the received visibility messages; and a neighbor tables data store that is configured to store, in a non-transitory data storage medium, at least one data structure that identifies, in a first portion, neighboring node devices with which connections are established, and that identifies, in a second portion, neighboring node devices with which connections are not established but from which visibility messages are received, wherein a neighbor selection criterion is applied by a neighbor tables update module associated with the neighbor tables data store to initiate an update of the at least one data structure.

2. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the degree of utilization of the wireless communications medium by the node device is adjusted based on predefined link quality requirements for communications with each individual neighbor.

3. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the communications circuitry transmits the visibility messages at a standard transmission power setting that is standardized among all node devices of the network.

4. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the communications circuitry transmits the visibility messages at only a maximum transmission power setting.

5. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the visibility message includes information indicative of a path cost to at least one gateway device.

6. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the visibility message includes an identifier of a gateway device.

7. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the visibility message includes a measure of a local node's current network traffic handling.

8. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the visibility message includes information indicative of a capability of a node device that is the originator of the visibility message to support communications at a given maximum transmission power level from among a plurality of different power levels.

9. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the visibility message includes information indicative of a capability of a node device that is the originator of the visibility message to support communications at a given maximum data rate of message transmissions from among a plurality of data rates.

10. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the measure of density is based on a quantity of received visibility messages from different node devices during a monitoring interval.

11. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the measure of density is based on a rate of reception of visibility messages from different node devices during a monitoring interval.

12. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter includes a transmission power setting.

13. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter includes a transmission data rate setting.

14. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter includes a criterion establishing a repetition rate of visibility message transmission by the node device.

15. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the operational parameter includes a neighbor selection criterion for selecting, from among the one or more neighboring node devices, a subset of one or more active neighbors with which connections are to be established.

16. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the received visibility message assessment module associates each one of the received visibility messages with an apparent link quality assessment based on reception of that visibility message.

17. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the received visibility message assessment module processes each one of the received visibility messages to obtain, based on information content of that visibility message, a potential path cost assessment representing a path cost of the neighboring node device that originated that visibility message, and associates that path cost assessment with a record of that neighboring node.

18. The node device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the at least one data structure is subject to a size limit that limits a number of neighboring node devices with which connections may be established.

19. A method for operating a node device in a wireless multihop network, each node device being within communication range, through a wireless communications medium, of one or more neighboring node devices located in a corresponding local neighborhood, the method comprising: generating visibility messages to be transmitted via connection-less broadcast, the visibility messages including at least an identifier of the node device; processing visibility messages received by the node device from the one or more neighboring node devices to determine a measure of density of the local neighborhood; initiating updating of at least one operational parameter of the node device relating to utilization of the wireless communications medium by the node device, wherein a degree of utilization of the wireless communications medium is adjusted at least in part according to an inverse relation to the measure of density of the local neighborhood determined based on the received visibility messages; and storing in a neighbor tables data store that is configured to store, in a non-transitory data storage medium, at least one data structure that identifies, in a first portion, neighboring node devices with which connections are established, and that identifies, in a second portion, neighboring node devices with which connections are not established but from which visibility messages are received, wherein a neighbor selection criterion is applied by a neighbor tables update module associated with the neighbor tables data store to initiate an update of the at least one data structure.

20. A node device for use with a wireless multihop network, each node device being within communication range, through a wireless communications medium, of one or more neighboring node devices located in a corresponding local neighborhood, the node device comprising: means for generating visibility messages to be transmitted via connection-less broadcast, the visibility messages including at least an identifier of the node device; means for processing visibility messages received by the node device from the one or more neighboring node devices to determine a measure of density of the local neighborhood; means for initiating updating of at least one operational parameter of the node device relating to utilization of the wireless communications medium by the node device, wherein a degree of utilization of the wireless communications medium is adjusted in inverse relation to the measure of density of the local neighborhood determined based on the received visibility messages and on the link quality requirements for communications with each individual neighbor; and means for storing in neighbor tables data store that is configured to store, in a non-transitory data storage medium, at least one data structure that identifies, in a first portions, neighboring node devices with which connections are established, and that identifies, in a second portion, neighboring node devices with which connections are not established but from which visibility messages are received, wherein a neighbor selection criterion is applied by a neighbor tables update module associated with the neighbor tables data store to initiate an update of the at least one data structure.